"A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING"--MOVIE REVIEW

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After seeing “A Hologram for the King” the word that stays in my mind is interesting, not an interesting movie but for some interesting visual scenes.
Going from a man in possibly a middle age crisis to a story about a fish out of water to a West meets East tale the movie is all over the place. With Tom Hanks, America’s Everyman, that is if Everyman has a Danish female contractor trying to seduce him and an independent Arabian woman doctor becoming involved with him, the role acquires depth even if the scenes with his daughter (Tracey Fairaway) hold the film back as does the brief flashback scenes with (Tom Skerritt) his father.
The interesting visual scenes go from Alan (Hanks) and the doctor (Sarita Choudhury) in a swimming scene among coral reefs, wide spans of desert, a vision of what parts of that desert may develop by man plus the hologram(s) in the title. Now if only the movie had spent more time about the holograms it would have been interesting in a better way.
There are more scenes such as a high rise beautiful condo growing in a desert land that is being built by exploited foreign workers who offer a brutal way of life. There is also the introduction of Yousef (Alexander Black) who is more or less a cliché as a driver/guide, who is good but really could be eliminated from the picture without a loss except for about 20 minutes making the already short, 98 minutes, movie shorter.
“A Hologram for the King” does nothing for Tom Hanks’ career except solidify his likability while Choudhury is very impressive in her role and both in the underwater scenes are a delight as a couple.
In spite of the interesting visual scenes, and Tom Hanks, there is no way I can recommend this movie.